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Adolfas Ramanauskas, son of Ludorkas and Alice Ramanauskas, was born on March 6, 1918, in New Britain, Connecticut, after his parents had emigrated to the United States. His family returned to Lithuania in 1921.
He married Birute Mazeikaite on October 7, 1945, at the village of Nedzinges in the County of Alytus.
Adolfas and Birute were "freedom fighters," that is, Lithuanian “partisans” who fought against the Russian domination of their country after World War II. She used the code name “Vanda” [translation unknown], and he served as “Vanagas” [The Hawk]. Both were arrested by the Soviets in 1956. Birute was imprisoned for eight years. Adolfas was sadistically tortured and then executed at Vilnius on November 29, 1957.
Their daughter, Auksute (Aukse) Ramanauskaite-Skokauskiene, born on December 14 1948 at Prienai, Lithuania, edited a book by her father entitled in Lithuanian “Daugel Krito Sunu…” (a title which can be translated as “A Lot of Sons Died” or “Many Sons Have Fallen Dead”) [first published in 1991].
Adolfas Ramanauskas is considered a great Lithuanian hero. When his remains were finally discovered and clearly identified in 2018, they were reburied in a state funeral. The Lithuanian parliament designated 2018 the year of Ramanauskas-Vanagas.
Sources
- Ramanauskas, Adolfas (2007). Daugel krito sūnu̜... : partizanu̜ gretose (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Lietuvos gyventoju̜ genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras.
- Ramanauskas, Adolfas (2018). Many Sons Have Fallen in the Partisan Ranks. Vilnius: Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania.
- Ramanauskaitė-Skokauskienė, Auksutė (2007). Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas: Partisan Commander General. Kaunas: Naujasis lankas.
See also:
- "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCNM-QWW : Thu Nov 09 12:00:52 UTC 2023), Entry for Ludorkas Ramanauskas and Alice Ramanauskas [and Adolph Ramanauskas], 1920.
NOTE RE PRISON CELL: The prison cell of Ramanauskas is located in the Museum of Genocide Victims (established 1992) at Vilnius. The museum is in the western wing of the former building of the KGB.
The most important part of the museum is the old NKVD/MGB/KGB prison that was established in the basement of the building after Lithuania's occupation by the Soviets. At that time, the prison contained 50 cells used for the imprisonment of dissidents and fighters for human rights.
The prison is still as it was when the KGB left it in August 1991. Visitors can see the common wards, the search and fingerprinting rooms, the cell where prisoners were tortured, and solitary confinement cells.
NOTE RE TORTURE: A commission formed in the KGB prison after the arrest of Adolfas Ramanauskas indicated how he had been sadistically tortured. The report noted: "The right eye is covered with a haematom. On the eyelid there are six stab wounds made, judging by their diameter, by a thin wire or a nail going deep to the eyeball… The genitalia reveal the following: a large tear wound on the right side of the scrotum and a wound on the left side; both testicles and spermatic ducts are missing."
The above quotation is printed in the book "The Unknown War: Armed Anti-Soviet Resistance in Lithuania in 1944–1953" (published 2004), pp. 42-45, by Dalia Kuodyte & Rokas Tracevskis.